Kalrashi
The Kalrashi are a people native to the mountainous regions to the west of Emberglow. A proud but peaceful people that have a strong reverence for their long history and live by its ancient traditions and customs, the Kalrashi have an insatiable need to travel or wander. Those that find themselves in Emberglow often join one of the numerous trading caravans that travel from place to place in the southern counties. Culture Much of Kalrashi life is centred around the idea of the extended family, a concept far more flexible in Kalrashi culture than in Emberglow. While they do recognise relationships by blood, they are far more likely to refer to their "kin" when asked about family, which will certainly contain their direct relatives but most likely a whole group of other close families, a network of honoured friends and allies, and those who have in some way forever earned their respect. As a result, Kalrashi names can become very long and complex as they adopt those of their companions and share their own, each individual name representing and celebrating a special relationship or important event in their personal history. Kalrashi value, respect and love their kin in the same way as they do their blood relatives. Kalrashi kin often travel together in caravans, with numbers ranging from ten or twelve individuals to vast, disperse groups of hundreds that split into smaller caravans with a similar destination or route. They are almost never found alone or in smaller groups, preferring to immerse themselves in family than walk in solitude. The members of a Kalrashi caravan are not static and caravans often merge and separate, usually with new kin relationships being forged with each meeting. Special celebrations are held when Kalrashi part ways, often lasting a day or more, with joyous singing and dancing that marks the pledge that their paths will cross again and that the family will come back together. Even death is treated as such a temporary parting, and Kalrashi funerals are characterised by a blend of sombre mourning and celebration of future reunion that on the surface may seem strange or even disrespectful when witnessed by non-Kalrashi. Likewise, Kalrashi people dislike the practice of burying the dead that many other cultures revere, preferring to cremate the remains of their loved ones so that they can continue to travel on the winds. Settlements In their homeland, the Kalrashi have numerous ancient places of settlement that vary from simple forest clearings or narrow valleys to true hamlets and villages, though few support more than a hundred people at once. Settlements are populated by Kalrashi who may live there for a few days or a few decades, but all eventually feel the draw of the roads and start their travels anew. Kalrashi who have settled are referred to as being im odihna, a Kalrashi term translated literally as "resting", though any Kalrashi would point out that the only reason to rest is to prepare for the next journey. Though smaller settlements tend to wax and wane as wagons come, set down roots, and then eventually leave, larger villages often have permanent buildings and homes built of wood, thatch and stone. These houses are free for any and all to use, so long as they are unoccupied at the time, and while a person makes their home in a place they are responsible for its repair and maintenance. The same is true for a village's fields of crops, the wells and streams, the roads, and even the gardens and courtyards, as the duty of their upkeep passes from traveller to traveller. Kalrashi rarely reap the benefits of what they themselves sow, but they can live in confidence that they can trust their distant kin to provide for them in the future as they are in turn providing for others. Each settlement, no matter how small or large, is centred around a Waymark, often a place so old that its origins are lost in the depths of antiquity even to the long memories of the Kalrashi. Each traveller that moves on from a settlement leaves their name here - some with a greeting and directions for any kin to follow as part of their pledge of reunion, others with the news of a birth in the family or an important event. In the wildest areas, a Waymark may be nothing but a pile of stones with words scratched onto them, some reused many hundreds of times as symbols fade and are re-etched. In larger villages a Waymark may be a special building full of books and noticeboards to be written on, maintained by a traveller before he eventually leaves his own mark and moves on. Whatever form they take, Waymarks are considered to be sacred places where the bonds of kin are strong even when separated by vast distances, and the Kalrashi treat them with the greatest respect. Of particular note is the port of Greyharbour, situated near the mouth of the Sweetsmile river and the only true Kalrashi town. Beliefs The Kalrashi believe that spirits, great and small entities with a divine spark, have inhabited the world from the times of old - before the Kalrashi came to be, and when the lands were more primal and wild. They do not name these spirits as gods - indeed, often they do not name them at all - but they respect them and their domains in some small way in most aspects of their life. A great forest or mountain might be the domain of a particularly old or powerful spirit, which may be unusually benevolent or might be appeased by some form of tribute before its lands are travelled. Likewise, a particular stream or pond may be under the protection of a local guardian spirit that may curse those that take more than their fair share from its waters, or grant a boon of prosperity if a certain seed is brought to and planted on the shore. Kalrashi who are particularly knowledgeable about the likes and dislikes of the spirits in a particular region, often the elderly or particularly well travelled, are held in high regard and regularly asked for their counsel. In contrast to many cultures, who revere their gods as entities beyond the understanding and judgement of mortal creatures, the Kalrashi believe that all sentient creatures are accountable for their actions - and they extend this belief to the spirits. Kalrashi are more than happy to pass judgement upon a particularly unpleasant or malevolent spirit, even if they do have a grudging respect for its power. In contrast, they may go out of their way to build totems or gives tributes in lands overseen by a helpful or benevolent spirit, hoping to repay its kindness and share their fortune in the same way as as they would for their own kin. Kalrashi will believe in the existence of gods that they encounter in other countries, such as the gods of Emberglow, but generally regard these gods simply as particularly old or powerful spirits who hold dominion over that land - an entity that may need to be appeased while travelling through that country, but with no power in the domain of another spirit. Kalrashi lore holds that a spirit will wander its demesne, exerting its subtle influence as it pleases, but rarely feel compelled to travel outside it; some believe that the spirit feels bound to the place into which it first emerged into the primal first world. An exception exists, however, in a spirit the Kalrashi hold in particularly high regard - known by many names, she is the 'Grey Wanderer', and the 'Veil at the Door' - though more often she is simply 'the Lady'. Dwarven Kalrashi more often refer to her as 'Ukrh-Dur' in the Dwarftongue, literally 'upon the sunset', while the traditional Kalrashi names in the old languages roughly translate to 'she-at-our-fire'. Kalrashi tales speak of her as one of the old spirits, born upon the ancient primal lands, yet unlike the others she laid sleeping for centuries until awoken by the footfalls of the first of the Kalrashi people. She watched as they travelled through her domain, sometimes paying tribute with a whispered word or a treasure cast to her winds, telling each other stories of the distant high places and of vast, endless waters that swept out beyond her vision. Some of the people she would see once and never again, but others would return after many seasons with new tales and new kin, greeting her once more with her favoured tributes and gifts. One day, after countless Kalrashi had crossed her lands, she reached out and felt the yearning they all held in their hearts, the need to travel to the far places, and took it within herself; ever since, she has made the Kalrashi people themselves her home, treading the roads they built and joining them at their campfires when the sun dips below the horizon. There is a place made for the Lady in almost all aspects of Kalrashi life, and even the smallest acknowledgement of her presence is seen to be important and significant. A Kalrashi home, be it house or caravan, will often keep a candle burning through the night at a window - a welcome and a promise of hospitality for the Lady should she arrive weary from her travels when the world is sleeping. Likewise, a campfire may have an empty place for her to sit, should she pass by and feel the need for the company of her people. However, she is generally only invoked by name at the greatest of Kalrashi celebrations - those of birth and death - when a new journey is about to begin. It is told that she visits every infant at birth with a whisper of a wonderous place that she has seen in her travels, and in doing so shows the child the joys of the world that they will grow to explore. Likewise, as Kalrashi take their first steps on the roads that their kin may not yet tread, the Lady will invite the spirit to reminisce on the places they visited together before guiding them on to their new home, one decided by the journeys they made together in life. Kalrashi in Emberglow see much of their Lady in the Embari Shepherdess, some going so far as to speak of them as the same entity. In Emberglow The southern counties of Emberglow - Sweetwater, Shadygrove and Fluttershine in particular - have a fairly large population of Kalrashi that have migrated from the west. Some families have been in Emberglow for generations and have merged their Kalrashi traditions with Embari culture, perhaps travelling less often or worshipping the Embari gods as their own, though even the most settled Kalrashi have a reverence for their origins and consider the mountainous west to be "home". Other Kalrashi staunchly maintain their travelling lifestyle, and these form the merchant caravans that travel along the course of the River Sweetsmile, visiting villages and towns to buy and sell goods or to put on performances. Some caravans have also established Waymarks in the Embari villages and towns; while not as necessary for communication and family solidarity as those back in the old country, these Waymarks often double as places of trade between the caravans and the local people. In general, the Kalrashi are welcomed and well thought of in the southern counties of Emberglow, though in the north where they are less common they may be regarded with some uncertainty. The more pious of the Embari occasionally take issue with the Kalrashi stance that their gods are "no more than big spirits", though the lack of any real zeal in Kalrashi beliefs makes these problems fairly easy to smooth over. Particularly in the south, a not inconsiderable number of Embari travel with the Kalrashi as part of their merchant caravans; here they are just as welcome as new migrants from the west and often accepted by families as kin. Kalrashi People Torben is of Kalrashi descent on his mother's side. While searching for the cause of the death of two Sweetwater guards, the party discovered the remains of a family of Kalrashi travellers just inside a cave in the Forest of Evernight, a mother and father who appeared to have been trying to protect their daughter. It was discovered that they had been killed by spirits bound to the cave by a necromantic orb of stone, which had proceeded to bind the family's spirits as well. The party managed to destroy the orb and release the binding placed on the family's spirits, at which point Van was able to finally lay them to rest. The bodies of the family were cremated at the mouth of the cave in proper Kalrashi tradition.